Volvik Race for the Card Update

Zach is in his second year with the LPGA and is the Symetra Tour Media and Public Relations Official. Prior to moving to Florida, Zach was a sports anchor and reporter for two years with the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

After the first tournament of the 2019 Symetra Tour season, the Volvik Race for the Card welcomes its initial top-10 thanks to their performance at the SKYiGOLF Championship.

Even though Alana Uriell (Carlsbad, California) claimed the first hardware of the year, she is not a Symetra Tour member because of her finish at LPGA Q-Series in the fall so her winnings do not count toward the season money list standings. Therefore, Lauren Coughlin (Charlottesville, Virginia) and Julieta Granada (Asuncion, Paraguay) sit tied for first with $20,566 after a tied for second result on Sunday.

“A good finish right off the bat is huge and takes a lot of pressure off to start the year,” said Coughlin. “It also shows that what I worked on in the offseason were the right things and so I just need to keep doing what I have focused on.”

Checking in at No. 3 is Karen Chung (Livingston, New Jersey) at $13,451, followed by Allison Emrey (Charlotte, North Carolina) and Csicsi Rozsa (Budapest, Hungary) having each earned $9,898 with a tied for fifth performance in North Port, Fla. in week one.

The second half of the top-10 is led by Ssu-Chia Cheng (Taipei, Chinese Taipei) with $7,508 then Jillian Hollis (Rocky River, Ohio) at $6,603.

Rounding out the group is a trio that cashed a $5,484 paycheck including Cheyenne Knight (Aledo, Texas), Demi Runas (Torrance, California) and Jean Reynolds (Newnan, Georgia).

“I am very excited for the opportunity that starting the year with a top-10 finish has given me,” Runas said. “It reminds me that I have made progress and gives me that much more confidence going into the rest of the year. There’s definitely a long way to go, but I’m looking forward to what other opportunities are ahead.”

At the end of the season, the top-10 players in the Volvik Race for the Card standings will graduate onto the LPGA Tour for the 2020 season.